HOUSING.

Evening Star, Issue 18812, 10 December 1924, Page 9

HOUSING.

TO THE EDITOR. Sir, —After reading the report in your issue of tho 4th inst. of the Housing Cnnimittoe’s deputation to the City Council, one is inclined to think that- nobody is seriously tackling the housing problem. H you will allow mo (he space I would lilce to ronirnont on what has been termed the “ proposals of tho Sites and Works Gmiiiniltec of tile Housing Committee.” The first of these: “That (lie committee was more than ever convinced of the urgent necessity for better housing in Dunedin . . is not a proposal at all; it is simply a fact which justifies the existence of tin l committee. The second of these proposals, which reads; “ Eor a housing scheme to be successfully undertaken it must he carried nut by a prn-porly-conr-tif uted housing hoard . . .” is, to mv mind, the first and only and by far the most important recommendation of the committee. In all, eight proposals were submitted by iho deputation, and, with the exception given above, they must bo regarded as worthless, as (hey afford no clue to the problem. I note that, the mayor, in reply to the deputation, said he doubted if the. council would favor tho idea of a- housing hoard; and I was amazed and disappointed to fee that the deputation, as if accepting the mayor's ambiguous utterance as conclusive evidence that the council had turned the proposal down, should be weak enough to say: “ The idea, of a housing hoard could be dropped.” Pose.ibly the council lias a group-mind which the mayor can readily psyclmlogise; and evidently the newly-formed Housing Committee — ‘‘qnot homines, tot sentential” —has not yet developed a mind of its own. Whilst acknowledging the fact that the committee, like tho council, has only a gratuitous service lo render unto tho community', surely we would not be expecting too much if wo hoped to see that it had sent its deputation to iho council with a manifesto which might read something like this ;—“ The committee finds that—■ (f) In all, 458 workers’ families are urgently in need of a home; (2) (hat 216 of these families cannot afford to pay more than 2fls per week each no rent; (3) there are 197 families each in a position to buy a home provided the weekly' instalments are not greater than 30s per week, an amount they can afford to pay as rent as tenants; and (4) forty-five families in a. position to pay 40s per week each to purchase a. home, and oOs pier week as rent as tenants. The committee would like to draw attention to the fact that in no instance slid it find a worker who was willing to pay more than 30s per week is rent. (5) The committee regrets to announce that it recorded 707 families that cannot afford to pay even 20s per week rent, being in moSt eases old age pensioners', widows, and grass widows with children, physical defects, and others living in single rooms in divers parts of the city. The committee feels that nothing can be done for thdso 707 families at present. (5) In order to successfully carry out a housing scheme there is every necessity' for a properly constituted housing board, whose members should be representatives from the city, borough, and other councils within a twelve-mile radius of the city proper; and that (7) tho Government should bo approached as early as possible ind asked to assist in this matter by introducing Empowering Acts in the interests of housing boards at the next session of Parliament. (3) The activities if this committee shall not ceas-e until a housing board has been established, and, even then, the committee fools that it will lie of invaluable assistance to the hoard in allocating tho houses to the moot deserving cases." It must bo apparent to every rightthinking person that the City Council 's not, and, from all appearances, will never be, in a, position to build houses in sufficient quantity to meet tho ever-increasing demand. The building of houses by the council is reactionary—Socialistic—in principle; and Socialistic principles are not compatible with capitalistic interests; in others words, community housebuilding must bo a. failure if private enterprise in housebuilding is to succeed.—l am, etc., Ed. Hankey. December 9 t